Godzilla Minus One (2023) Dir: Takashi Yamazaki
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This Takashi Yamazaki directed sci-fi action film has been one of the most raved about films of 2023, and was featured on a lot of people's best film's of the year lists. As such, I knew I had to watch it - especially considering how much I've enjoyed other Godzilla films.
For a film with a mere $15 million budget, I thought it looked pretty damn good. Yes, there are definite, undeniable moments where the CGI is a bit suspect, but it was easy to let that go under the circumstances. As I said, the majority of the visual effects and editing was very solid.
The iconic Godzilla theme hit so hard. It was guttural, dramatic and intensely sinister. It is truly one of the great character music themes in cinema, as far as the physical feeling you get when you hear it in conjunction with the events on the screen.
The story gives its audience an emotional gut-punch that I wasn't expecting from a Godzilla story taking place in post-World War Two Tokyo. The narrative had so many elements to it. The most effevtive being the emotional storytelling. One side of the film was a social drama depicting a man's guilt and trauma in the wake of what he feels are two unforgiveable acts of cowardice, and his need for redemption or release.
But there's also the story of defeated soldiers, engineers and scientists turned noble citizens who dare to hope in a time of intense hopelessness and despair, following the nuclear devastation and defeat inflicted on Japan, as well as the new threat of a mystical and terrifying monster from the deeps. There's nothing like stubborn optimism in the face and wake of hell to rouse the spirits and endear an audience to a film's story and characters.
I enjoyed the performance of the film's lead; Ryunosuke Kamiki, for the most part anyway. I do think he had a tendancy to over-act during some of the more emotional scenes, but it didn't ruin those scenes at least.
I much prefered Minami Hamabe, who I felt had more composure in the bigger scenes, and who was able to bring more personality out of the smaller or quieter ones. She stole a great many of the scenes she was in, with her endearing and sweet screen presence.
Hidetaka Yoshioka was a steady presence in the film, and while his acting was solid and enjoyable, I was slightly distracted by his character's presentation. It looked as though the filmmakers had tried to age him a bit, and it ended up looking slightly off to me. Maybe that was just me though.
There are also some pretty commendable performances from an array of supporting cast members, including Kuranosuke Sasaki, Yuki Yamada, Saki Nakatani, Munetaka Aoki, Sakura Ando and Mio Tanaka.
Overall, I had so much fun watching this low budget, but excellently composed depiction of a Godzilla story. It had so much more depth than I would ever have predicted or hoped it would. There were a couple of issues with some of the dialogue, and the occasionally medicare piece of CGI, but those things aside, this was a great watch.
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